The cybercriminal received a sentence as a “juvenile delinquent” to have a reduced sentence. The attorney stated that the teenager returned all the Bitcoin that he obtained from the scam.
The criminal who hacked Twitter in July 2020 to promote a Bitcoin (BTC) scam received a three-year prison sentence. Teenager Graham Ivan Clark admitted that he is guilty of the act to have a reduced sentence.
Prosecutors agreed to treat the 18-year-old American as a “juvenile delinquent” rather than as an adult. The “brain” behind the hack of the social network was 17 years old when it occurred. If he had faced prosecution as an adult, the minimum sentence would have been 10 years.
When Clark has served his sentence, he will remain on probation for three years. However, he may only use computers with the permission of the authorities. Besides, he must allow the authorities to search his property and he must surrender the keys to any account that he manages.
Other Crimes that Clark Has Committed
Among more than 30 charges the hacker is facing are wire fraud, money laundering, conspiracy, and unauthorized access to computers. Clark’s arrest occurred just days after the incident, so he has already spent more than 200 days in prison.
“Graham Clark must pay for that crime and other potential scammers must see the consequences,” said Hillsborough (Florida) prosecutor Andrew Warren.
David Weisbrod, the hacker’s attorney, said that his client returned all the Bitcoin that he acquired from the scam. Clark obtained a total of 28 BTC, which was then equivalent to around USD 250,000 and currently exceeds USD 1,600,000.
Two others implicated in the case are Mason Sheppard (also known as “Chaewon”), a 19-year-old resident of the UK, and Nima Fazeli (also known as “Rolex”), a 22-year-old resident of Orlando, Florida. However, there were no details about the legal cases for which the authorities are prosecuting these two young men.
Hacking Twitter for Bitcoin
Last year’s Twitter is a major security breach in the history of the social network. The cybercriminals took control of the accounts of well-known figures from the world of entertainment, politics, and the Bitcoin ecosystem.
They breached the accounts of Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, Barack Obama, Wiz Khalifa, Joe Biden, Uber, Apple, and the Binance exchange, among others. They varied the messages slightly, depending on the accounts from which they posted them, but the purpose was to scam on behalf of Bitcoin.
For example, they shared the following message from Musk’s account: “Today I feel generous due to COVID-19. For that reason, I will double all the Bitcoin payments that I receive in my wallet within the next hour. Good luck to all and stay safe out there.”
More recently, a man from Germany said that he was the victim of cybercriminals using a Twitter account with the name of Musk. They promised in the message that they would deliver a large amount of Bitcoin to whoever sent a small amount of the cryptocurrency.
The victim lost a total of 10 BTC, which he sent to a wallet that supposedly belonged to the businessman. He claimed that he lost all of his early retirement fund and the future vacations with his children.
By Alexander Salazar
